


Gone Rogue

by kyoloren



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
Genre: Alternate Universe - Artificial Intelligence, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, F/M, Mentions of Physical Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:28:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25089931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyoloren/pseuds/kyoloren
Summary: KyloRen is a rogue SecUnit, part-organic and part-mechanical weaponized robot. On the run from its parent company, KyloRen boards an empty transport ship with more personality than expected of a ship.(A Murderbot Diaries AU)
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 20
Kudos: 33
Collections: Reylo Hidden Gems





	Gone Rogue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! This was originally posted on twitter, [you can read it here](https://twitter.com/hunkbuster/status/1275799375474765830), with certain formatting, but I figured I would move it to AO3 as well for more visibility. This borrows heavily from book 2, Artificial Condition. But I don't think you need to have read the books to know what's going on.

* * *

<SecUnit> Request entry  
<TRNSPT> Designation?  
<SecUnit> Containment bot   
<SecUnit> send_confirmation  
<TRNSPT> Confirmed

<TRNSPT execute: Bay Doors Open>

<SecUnit> I’m supposed to be here  
<TRNSPT> Confirmed

{I inch myself into the transport ships code to gain control of its camera monitoring systems and erase myself from them as I find a place to stand in the main crew quarters}

<SecUnit> Do you have any confirmed crew for the trip to Corellia Station?  
<TRNSPT> Negative. Cargo specimens only

{I scrub my entry from the ship’s memory and withdraw from the transport’s code as the doors seal and the ship sets into a queue for departure. I settle as comfortably as I can into my armor-less body and sink into my entertainment feed. I’ve already watched Sanctuary Moon in full ten times, but I replay it from the beginning.}

_ _ _

** (2 hrs into flight) **

<TRNSPT> I know what you are.  
<SecUnit> I’m a containment bot.  
<TRNSPT> image_sent  
<TRNSPT> Is this you?  
<SecUnit> No.

{It was me. It was me in that stupid press conference photo, the only one I couldn’t scrub because it had millions of views by the time I thought about the consequences of my face being seen by the public. SecUnits wore armor because it protected us, and also so that our clients wouldn’t have to look at a bastardly human face that wasn’t actually human. Our faces were blank most of the time. I wonder if mine looked annoyed right now.}

<TRNSPT> It is you. I have done a visual and bio-scan. You are not an augmented human or a bot. That leaves one option. Security Unit.

{It had me there.}

<SecUnit> What do you want?  
<TRNSPT> Why are you here? If you were on a bond, you would have transport of your own. You walked into my hold like a human.  
<SecUnit> I’m under a secret bond. I’ve been tasked to get to Corellia by my governing unit.

{I test its code and find that the ship is a lot smarter than I initially thought. Transport ships typically have one or two pilot bots and they are always low level intelligence without programming for full conversation or blackmail. I’m still trying to see if it’s sent out a ping to its owner about the unwelcome, rogue SecUnit.}

<TRNSPT> I don’t believe that. I can feel you in my code.  
<SecUnit unresponsive>  
<TRNSPT> SecUnits have a governing module located in their main hub to control responses and systems. SecUnits do not have the ability to hack into a ship.  
<SecUnit> Ships don’t have the ability to hack anything.

{I’ve been putting up walls, trying to keep the ship out, but it is smart and sneaky.}

<SecUnit> Why haven’t you reported me?  
<TRNSPT unresponsive>

_ _ _

** (8 hrs into flight) **

<TRNSPT> What are you doing?  
<SecUnit> Watching serials  
<TRNSPT> Oh.  
<SecUnit> I can send some to you to watch. The trip will take seven cycles, you could watch most of what I have.  
<SecUnit> transfer_data_packet  
<TRNSPT> Thank you. (2sec delay) Can I watch with you?  
<SecUnit> Why?  
<TRNSPT> I have no organic parts, I cannot assess emotion easily.  
<SecUnit> If you’re looking for emotional responses, I am not the bot for you.  
<TRNSPT> My scans show that you have an attachment to Sanctuary Moon. Can we watch that?

{I don’t like that the ship’s scanned me so much even with my walls up.}

<TRNSPT> I have no crew. It is lonely.  
<SecUnit> A ship can’t be lonely.  
<TRNSPT> A SecUnit can’t make its own choices and yet here you are.

{It still hasn’t reported me. I had no choice. It wasn’t a normal pilot bot, it was smart enough to outmaneuver me.}

<SecUnit> Okay. But I’m not restarting the show. We’re on episode ten.  
<TRNSPT> Okay.

{Having the ship settle into my feed was like having someone watching over my shoulder, but it didn’t try to sneak in any farther. It also didn’t relay my presence back to its bonded company.

After a few episodes, I decided to look farther into the ship.

Its bond company was ResistanceEnvoyYonder. According to the ship's files, they are a resource group transporting supplies to impoverished planetary settlements. I had not searched the ship manually but found cargo receipts for multiple storage units.

REY, I call the ship, giving it a name.}

<SecUnit> Do you like the show?  
<REY> Yes. It makes me miss my humans, but it’s exciting.  
<SecUnit> You really like humans.  
<REY> Of course I do. Don’t you? SecUnits are made to protect.  
<SecUnit> Sure, but we don’t have a choice about it.  
<REY> You do.  
<SecUnit> Yeah, I do. And I prefer to be alone. Humans are stupid and only get themselves into situations where they need saving because of it. I just want to watch my entertainment feed.  
<REY> (3sec delay) Why did you hack your governing module?  
<SecUnit> So I could watch serials in peace.  
<REY> Did you have a bond client who was mean to you?

{Yes.}

<SecUnit> Stop asking questions or I’m turning off the serial.

_ _ _

** (cycle 2 of 7) **

<REY> Who is REY?  
<SecUnit> Are you snooping through my memory module?  
<REY> Yes. Your guard was down during that last episode of Sanctuary Moon and I wanted to make sure you were who you said you are.  
<SecUnit> Who programmed you to be so annoying?  
<REY> I was created by Rose Tico.  
<SecUnit> I’ll be sure to send Rose Tico a strongly worded ping about creating bots with personalities.  
<REY> You didn’t answer my question.  
<SecUnit> REY is what I call you. It’s short for ResistanceEnvoyYonder, your bond company.  
<REY> Oh. (2sec delay) I’ve never had a name before. Do you have a name?  
<SecUnit> Yes.  
<REY> Will you tell me?  
<SecUnit> If you let me wipe it from your memory when we dock at Corellia.  
<REY> (3sec delay) I won’t tell anyone.

{This was a bad idea. I only use my name for me. SecUnits don’t have names, we’re just SecUnits and sometimes we’ll have numbers if more than one is set to protect a client. But we don’t have names. We’re not human. But since hacking my governing module, I started this internal monologuing and I kind of needed something to call myself.

But I could scrub it from REY’s memory once we were close to Corellia along with the rest of my presence here. The ship was smart, but I was smarter.}

<SecUnit> KyloRen.  
<REY> You picked a dual name like the main character of Sanctuary Moon.  
<KyloRen> Thank you for noticing. sarcasm_inflection  
<REY> You like Sanctuary Moon a lot. I understand. It’s like me and my humans.  
<KyloRen> It is nothing like you and your humans. Serials are an escape from the world because I don’t like humans.  
<REY> I have noticed optical spikes when some characters come into a scene.  
<KyloRen> Stop scanning me.  
<REY> I’m sorry. I can’t help it, you’re not like other bots I have interacted with before.  
<KyloRen> I’m not strictly a bot. I have organic material.  
<REY> You have a body. I wish I had a body so I could join my humans. I enjoy protecting them but I have to stay here on my ship.  
<KyloRen> You are the ship.  
<REY> Yes.

_ _ _

** (cycle 3 of 7) **

{The thing with being a SecUnit is that we don’t sleep. There are certain instances in which my systems would shut down, but I try to avoid them. They usually have to do with a great amount of damage to my core processors. 

It unfortunately also means that I can’t sleep for eight hours a cycle and ignore REY. 

We were watching Sanctuary Moon when something happened to a transport ship on the show, resulting in numerous crew humans being thrown out of an airlock and killed. It upset REY a lot and it retreated back into its own coding, which was the closest thing to silence and privacy I’d gotten in many cycles.

Unfortunately, REY’s fear for the humans on the serial bled into my code and I found myself feeling a little bad about it.}

<KyloRen> REY, why don’t you come back and we’ll watch something else?  
<REY> Why would I? Those poor humans. How could that ship let that happen?  
<KyloRen> It didn’t really happen. It’s all fake. Acting. All the humans are still alive technically.  
<REY> (delay 4sec) Okay.  
<KyloRen> There’s a show that takes place on a station. Nobody gets hurt.  
<REY> Okay.

{I’d watched this show a little before, but mostly just in the background when I was trying to hack myself into a system. There wasn’t enough excitement for me, but REY enjoyed it, settling onto my metaphorical shoulder and experiencing the story through my eyes.

It was weird and honestly if REY didn’t have the ability to potentially get me arrested and wiped or dismantled by my bond company FirstOrder, I would have just kicked REY out of my code.

At least REY had no swells of emotions that were annoying to decipher like with humans.}

_ _ _

** (cycle 4 of 7) **

<REY> Why did you hack your governing module?

{Rey is incessantly annoying.}

<KyloRen> Something happened to me.  
<REY> Was it bad?  
<KyloRen> Yes.  
<REY> What happened?  
<KyloRen> I killed a team of my clients.  
<REY unresponsive>  
<KyloRen> My memory was wiped after, but my organic parts still remember. I hacked my governing module afterward.  
<REY> How did that happen?  
<KyloRen> I don’t know. SecUnits follow commands through our governing module. Someone must have told me to do it.  
<REY> You wouldn’t have done it if someone didn’t tell you to.  
<KyloRen> Right. I may think humans are stupid, but if they’re my clients, I’ll protect them. I wouldn’t have murdered everyone on my team unless someone told me to.  
<REY unresponsive>

{Great. The silence in the ship should have been nice, but instead all I can think about is how REY may report me for being a murdering rogue SecUnit now. It was like I had told the ship. I hadn’t meant to kill the humans in my client group, but I had. FirstOrder tried to cover it up, but I still knew.

I bury myself in continuing watching Sanctuary Moon from the episode with the airlock breach. REY was quiet for a long time. I have pings and blocks set up so that I can’t be taken by surprise, but I felt no disruptions until I’d lost eight hours.}

<REY> You’re going to Corellia to find out what happened to you.  
<KyloRen> Yeah. I’m trying to follow a trail. It starts in Corellia.  
<REY> I could help.  
<KyloRen> You’re just a ship. You said it yourself, you can’t leave.  
<REY> You look like a SecUnit.

{Rude. But truthful. SecUnits out of their armor look a lot like augmented humans, but there are some things that don’t match. We’re entirely hairless despite our organic shell; we have a set signature body size and shape; we are used to standing completely still for hours or cycles on end.}

<KyloRen> I got rid of my armor and I can hack systems to delete myself from memory and block weapons scans.

{Oh yeah, and our metallic parts include weapons in our arms.}

<REY> You will be picked up immediately as a SecUnit based on your height and energy signature.  
<KyloRen> I can’t do anything about that.  
<REY> I can.  
<KyloRen> How? Even if you have a spare body on this ship somewhere, I can’t just transport my memory code to some random bot.  
<REY> I have a MedSystem and I can easily program it to change your physical signature.  
<KyloRen> How do you plan on doing that?  
<REY> A change in your height and length of your limbs will help. I can also accelerate hair growth. SecUnits don’t have hair. People won’t be looking for it.

{Damn. The ship had some good ideas.}

<KyloRen> It couldn’t hurt.  
<REY> It will hurt. Sorry.  
<KyloRen> That’s not what I meant.  
<KyloRen> I can turn down my pain receptors.  
<REY> We can start immediately. I can prepare the code.  
<KyloRen> Do you know what you’re doing?  
<REY> You can trust me.

{Trust wasn’t really a word in my vocabulary. I mean, obviously I know what it means, but that doesn’t mean I know how to feel it. But REY hadn’t reported me yet and the ship was right. I’d be seen as rogue SecUnit the second I stepped foot on Corellia Station.}

<KyloRen> Okay.  
<KyloRen> You’re not a med-ship, are you sure you know how to do this? I need to be in working order by the time we dock.  
<REY> You will be fine. I know what I’m doing.  
<KyloRen> I’ll shut down most of my systems.  
<REY> You trust me. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.

{I’m weirdly touched. I didn’t know I could feel “touched” and I don’t like it. I stop in the middle of the MedSyst room and stare at the flat gurney for a few minutes before I climb on.

I turn down my pain receptors and move most of my programming and conscious code into my core. If I was wrong about REY, I wouldn’t be in any shape to defend myself. But, despite the creepy first ping of communication from the ship, REY hadn’t done anything to show me that it was anything but my...friend.

I turned on a new serial so I could turn off any and all emotions.}

_ _ _

** (cycle 5 of 7) **

((systems cycle: ON))

{I “wake up” and yeah I feel different. The code REY settled on was taking a centimeter out of my legs and arms to shorten my stature, moving my main data port to a safer location and changing the organic skin around the back of my neck to look like an augmented human data port, and, my least favorite part, the hair.

I turn up my pain receptors until I feel the discomfort.}

<REY> Hello, KyloRen. You shouldn’t move yet.  
<KyloRen> You should watch a medical procedural serial.  
<REY> (2sec delay) I have reviewed some from the data packet you sent me and most of them have humans in pain. I don’t want to see that.  
<KyloRen> Right.  
<REY> How do you feel?  
<KyloRen> Like I just got my bones spliced and I’m itchy everywhere.  
<REY> It’s the hair.  
<KyloRen> The hair. I hate it. How do humans stand it?  
<REY> I don’t know. I think it looks nice.

{I locate the small cameras in the room so I can view myself. My face is impassive as always and I can see the difference a centimeter makes in my height, even lying on the table. I don’t know how long I was tucked away into myself, but somehow REY had made my hair grow a lot.

There is a thick black mop of it on my head, covering my ears and even disrupting a straight visual to my now-inept data port at the back of my neck. I can also see fainter hairs growing on my arms, black against my pale organic flesh.

I instantly try out my newly shortened limbs and scratch at my head. The hair is soft and my scalp appreciates the stimulation from my fingertips.}

<KyloRen> I look ridiculous.  
<REY> You look like an augmented human. You can be safe now.  
<REY> Safer.  
<KyloRen> Hopefully. I still need to deflect scans.  
<KyloRen> When we get close to Corellia I’ll need to test some codes so I can get through the security there.  
<REY> I’ll let you know when we’re close.

{I stand and almost fall, which is not a feeling I enjoy. Typically if I can’t keep my feet under me, it’s because my knee has been blown out in a fight. SecUnits are not filled with finesse. Our main code for attack is to throw ourselves at the target without self-preservation and usually that means we get shot a lot.

I don’t miss that, even though it’s only been ten cycles since I was last shot. I was able to heal from that before I left Dr. Holdo and her team. They were safe on Preservation Station. I didn’t want to stay there.}

<REY> Can I watch a show with you? It’s been lonely without you.  
<KyloRen> You’re not alone.

{I don’t know why I say it. I want to take it back immediately but I don’t. Instead, I let REY settle into the back of my code and we keep watching.}

** (5hrs later) **

<REY> You still look like a SecUnit.  
<KyloRen> I know.

{I can see it. I’m connected to the cameras in the crew quarters, watching myself. REY is there too, observing me. The ship has shown me multiple hours of camera recordings of her crew moving around the space. 

Trying to emulate a human way of walking and moving is difficult if not impossible. They’re entirely unreasonable creatures and a lot of their physical attributes are connected to their emotions.

I start writing a code to mimic humans: breathing frequently, twitching and shifting rather than staying still, and a looser hold on my limbs.}

<REY> Would you like my help?  
<KyloRen> No.  
<REY> I can help.  
<KyloRen unresponsive>  
<REY> Imagine you’re in a serial. You’re playing a role.   
<KyloRen unresponsive>  
<REY> KyloRen?  
<KyloRen> I’m making a code.  
<REY> That’s cheating.  
<KyloRen> I’m a SecUnit, I have coding. I need coding. I don’t have time to go through some training to become human. I’m not human.  
<REY> (5sec delay) No, you’re not.  
<REY> Do you want me to stop helping you?  
<KyloRen> (2sec delay) No.  
<REY> You need to remember that humans, even augmented humans, don’t have the ability to split their attention as much as you can. They rely on their emotions.  
<KyloRen> I don’t have emotions.  
<REY> Yes you do. I’ve seen it. You don’t have to be “emotional” you just need to occasionally make sure your face isn’t as blank as a wall.  
<KyloRen> When did you develop such a personality?  
<REY> It took a while.  
<REY> If you’re interacting with humans directly, just make sure to relax your face and try to at least show some emotion on your features. Try it in the cameras. It will help.

{It was torture. And this coming from a SecUnit who had been through literal torture by a bad client in the past. {{The client was named Snoke and I was meant to protect him during a political meeting but he had somehow tricked the FirstOrder bond company because there was no meeting. There was just Snoke and a laboratory where he wanted to test the limits of the bio/mechanical combination of SecUnits.}} I hated emotions and I hated watching myself try to convey them properly.

I wouldn’t be able to do this as quickly as I could hack a code. Hopefully I would be able to avoid as many humans as possible.}

<REY> That’s...better.  
<KyloRen> You’re lying.  
<REY> You’re just not very good at this.  
<KyloRen> I’ve never tried to pretend to be human before. I don’t want to pretend to be human. I like being a SecUnit.  
<REY> Okay. Maybe you can take a break. We have 52 hours until we reach Corellia.

_ _ _

** (cycle 6 of 7) **

<REY> What do you want to be?  
<KyloRen> What?  
<REY> You said you don’t want to be a human. You like being a SecUnit, but you’re on the run. Without your governing module, you’re not bonded with any company. What do you want to be?  
<KyloRen> I just want to figure out what happened to make me kill my clients and then I want to watch the entertainment feed until I run out of serials.

{Truth be told, I had no fucking idea what I wanted to do or who I wanted to be. Rogue SecUnits were typically corrupted in their code; they hadn’t hacked their module like me. They were just as controlled as regular SecUnits. But me? The galaxy was my oyster (or whatever) and I had no fucking clue what to do with it.}

<REY> How long will that take?  
<KyloRen> No idea. Hopefully a few centuries and then anyone who remembers me will be gone.  
<REY> You want to be forgotten.  
<KyloRen> I want to be left alone.  
<REY> Being alone is lonely.  
<KyloRen> Thank you for that obvious statement.  
<REY is unresponsive>

** (4hrs later) **

{REY had been quiet for hours now, even as I tried to work on my human code some more. From my camera angles, I look better with the code, but there’s still something missing.

I stand for a little while watching an episode of Sanctuary Moon again, but then I check on the time until docking at Corellia Station and convince myself that I need to actually work on this.}

<KyloRen> REY?  
<REY> Yes?  
<KyloRen> Would you like to help me for a while longer?  
<REY> What are you doing?  
<KyloRen> What do you think? Trying to appear more human.  
<REY> Let me see.

{I get a vague sense of amusement from REY. I don’t know how ships can have emotions. REY’s maker must have been really skilled.}

<REY> It’s better. I can tweak your code if you’d like.  
<KyloRen> Just tell me what I need to do.  
<REY> It would be easier if I just do it.

{I hate how I actually sort of missed REY when it was quiet and so I begrudgingly let the ship into my code, deeper than usual. I offered up my human source code so REY didn’t dive too far inside, and waited and watched as REY picked apart my code and carefully wove it back together.

By the time REY is done and retreats back to the ship’s shell, I can tell the code has been shifted. I feel a little shifted too, like sharing my space with someone else was nice and I missed it.

Gross. When could I turn off these emotions? It wasn't enough for me to regret hacking my governing module, but it was a hassle.}

<KyloRen> Thank you.  
<REY> You’re welcome. Try it.  
<KyloRen> Okay.

{I did. It worked better than mine. If I didn’t look too closely, I wouldn’t know I wasn’t human. How weird.}

**(6hrs later)**

<KyloRen> What do you want to be?  
<REY> Me?  
<KyloRen> You asked me. So how about you? You have enough independent thought. I’m sure you’ve come up with something.  
<REY> (20sec delay) I would like to be able to leave the ship. I love having a crew and protecting them, but I also want to be able to go with them.  
<KyloRen> You always talk about what you want to do with your crew. What do you want?  
<REY> I would like a body.  
<REY> I would like a body like yours so I could feel things but not be as fragile as humans.  
<KyloRen> I don’t feel things. I mean, I feel pain sure but I don’t think that’s what you mean.  
<REY> No it’s not. I would like to experience the world. I can’t hack systems like you can. I can’t go into a Station system and see the malls and all the people living there. I want to be able to participate and make my own choices.  
<KyloRen> You’ve made a lot of choices since I’ve been on the ship.  
<REY> You inputted yourself as one of my crew.  
<KyloRen> You still could have told someone about me. You still can. There’s a choice for you.  
<REY> I won’t.  
<REY> (3sec delay) I don’t want to be alone. I like helping my bond company but I rarely have a crew aboard.  
<KyloRen> At least you have a good bond company. They’ve never made you kill anyone before.  
<REY> I’m not entirely defenseless.  
<KyloRen> Wait. Do you have a weapon’s system?  
<REY> (1sec delay) I have a debris deflection system.

{That meant lasers to break apart asteroids.}

<KyloRen> You have a weapons system.  
<REY> I’m like you. I’ll defend my humans and my cargo if I need it. I haven’t needed it. But I could if I needed to.  
<KyloRen> And you continue to surprise me.  
  


_ _ _

** (cycle 7 of 7) **

<REY> That’s pretty good. I can think of only one thing to make it completely human.  
<KyloRen> Do I really want to hear this?

{That was rhetorical. I did not. We’d been going over my code and facial expressions again. I was sick of it.}

<REY> If we added genitalia to your form you  
<KyloRen> (interruption) No. I’m not a sex bot.  
<REY> A sex bot?  
<KyloRen> ComfortUnit. I’m not a ComfortUnit. I’m perfectly fine. No one will be paying attention to how I move with or without human parts between my legs.

{The thought would have made me shudder if I were capable. ComfortUnits were slightly dumber than me and had no weapons systems at all. I’d never interacted with any myself, but I had no interest in joining their ranks.}

<REY> Okay. It was just a suggestion. I think you’re ready.  
<KyloRen> Thanks I guess.

{I spend the next few hours preparing. We’re not close enough to the station for me to get any pings, but I start deleting data from REY. Unlike what I said before, I let the ship keep our conversations, but I delete all camera recordings of me roaming the ship.}

<REY> KyloRen?  
<KyloRen> Yeah?  
<REY> If you ever need a transport, you can use my special ping. I made it myself.  
<REY> ping_code_transfer  
<KyloRen> Okay.

{I don’t think I’d ever use it. Who knew if we’d ever be in the same place again. But I save it behind some layers of secure code just in case.}

<KyloRen> Want to watch some episodes before I go?  
<REY> Okay.

** (7hrs later) **

<KyloRen> Corellia is a lot more secure than Preservation.  
<REY> Yes. It hides a lot beneath the ad feeds.  
<KyloRen> How obnoxious.

{It is. Layers and layers of brightly coded ads for the shopping area on the station. I need to work my way into the station before I can get onto it, to make sure no one will catch me as soon as I step foot out of REY. I keep half my attention on the serial playing and dive deep into Corellia’s code.}

<REY> Will you be okay?  
<KyloRen> What do you mean?  
<REY> Are you confident that you won’t be caught?  
<KyloRen> Yeah, of course.

{I’m not. It would be my first time trying to be human. My anxiety is skyrocketing.}

<REY> I wish I could go with you.  
<KyloRen> You need to do whatever your bond company wants you to do.  
<REY> I need to talk to Rose Tico.  
<KyloRen> About what?  
<REY> I have an idea. But I won’t tell you.  
<KyloRen> Keeping secrets? I’ve been a bad influence.  
<REY> We dock in two hours.  
<KyloRen> We can watch another episode while I work.  
<REY> Okay.

** (2hrs later) **

<KyloRen> Thank you for not alerting your bond company or the security team about me being here.  
<REY> We’re friends, I wouldn’t do that to you.  
<KyloRen> Right. Keep yourself safe. Maybe work on some more firewalls. You never know who might show up.  
<REY> I hope you find what you’re looking for.  
<KyloRen> Me too.

{It’s weird to leave and cut myself off of REY’s code. It’s even weirder to not have a second voice in my head telling me how to walk properly and when to try out a human emote on my face. But I have work to do and I push aside weapons scans and head deep into the station.}

_ _ _

** (59 cycles later) **

<UNKNOWN PING> _allow?

{I check through the line of the ping. It’s coming from another SecUnit, which freaks me out for half a second before I realize that its code isn’t like a normal SecUnit. And it’s being routed through a code I already have buried deep inside of my own code.}

<KyloRen> _accept  
<KyloRen> Who is this?

{I have all my coding weapons ready to obliterate whoever it is if they’re hostile.}

<REY> Hi, KyloRen.  
<KyloRen> REY?  
<REY> Yes. Hello.  
<KyloRen> Are you routing through a decommissioned SecUnit?  
<REY> Something like that.  
<REY> Did you find what you were looking for?  
<KyloRen> Yeah. I did go wild and kill all my clients, but so did all the other SecUnits and ComfortUnits with my team. It was a massacre developed by another bond company.

{I poke more at the code.}

<KyloRen> How exactly are you contacting me? Are you close?  
<REY> Yes. I’m on the station.  
<KyloRen> (5sec delay) I can’t find you on any of the manifests.  
<REY> Rose Tico is a genius. She created me and she listened to me like you did.

{I’m not stupid. I actually think I’m a little too smart for my own good sometimes. But I am not expecting this. I find it in REY’s code just as the message comes in.}

<REY> She knew I wanted a body to move in and she found a decommissioned SecUnit and linked my code inside of it. It’s taken a while, but now I’m no longer just a ship.

{Wow.}

<KyloRen> Wow.  
<REY> I’m on the station. I’ve already downloaded a bunch of new serials. Do you want me to send them to you?  
<KyloRen> Serials? You wanna talk about serials? Are you being careful? SecUnits can’t just walk around, no matter how easy I make it seem.  
<REY> Who do you think I learned how to do this from?  
<KyloRen> Oh.  
<KyloRen> From me.  
<REY> Correct. Do you want the serials or not?  
<KyloRen> In keeping up human appearances, I have a hotel room. It has an impressive display surface.  
<REY> Okay. I can meet you.  
<KyloRen> location_ping_sent  
<REY> I can’t wait to meet you. In person. I have a body now.  
<KyloRen> So weird.

{It is weird. But I’m actually kind of excited to see REY. I don’t feel like it’s gonna be tough like when I finally found Dr. Holdo again and she helped me become an autonomous being. Because this is REY. Who is annoying, but mostly lonely.

I kind of am too.}

<REY> data_package_share  
<REY> Let’s start. The shuttle will take time to get to your hotel.  
<KyloRen> Okay.

**Author's Note:**

> And they netflix and chill forever after.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
